Vacuum cleaner bags after normal use are inverted and emptied of their contents into a trash receptacle and then are replaced in connection with their vacuum fan/motors and placed into operation again. The efficiency of a typical cloth bag, however, is continuously impaired as the pores of the cloth wall of the bag become clogged with particles of dust, dirt, debris, and other bodies. At present, a vacuum cleaner bag can be cleaned after each use by hand, which is a generally unsatisfactory procedure. Unsatisfactory or incomplete cleaning of the cloth vacuum cleaner bags results in backup of air and general air pollution in the area of use; reduction of operating efficiency of the vacuum cleaner; energy waste; and excessive labor for using excessive time to complete vacuuming tasks.
Vacuum cleaner bag cleaning apparatus are known. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,864,622 granted to A. W. Sutherland June 28, 1932. Here, a vacuum cleaner bag is suspended in a compartment and air is sent into the bag. This device is cumbersome and time-consuming to mount and demount. In addition, the air pressure is not directed to particularly debris-laden areas. Also, the air pressure cannot be concentrated at the debris-laden areas.
Another vacuum bag cleaning device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,104,668 granted July 21, 1914 to W. H. Herbst. This device describes a tubular suction member connected to an exhaust fan with a tubular or cylindrical wire seen positioned in the tubular suction member spaced from the wall of the tubular suction member. A vacuum bag placed at the front of the suction member is drawn inside out into the cylindrical screen and sucked clean. This device distributes air equally over all of the long surface of the bag at the same time and does not concentrate the air flow for concentrated cleaning. The wire screen is cumbersome.
Yet another cleaning device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,189 issued to Yuji Miyake et al. Apr. 4, 1972. Here, a two-stage filtering system is entirely enclosed in a detachable dust collecting case. As described on page 9, lines 32-44, the dust collecting case is detached from its housing and put in an upright position. A vibrator then operates to vibrate the cloth filter so that the dust particules fall down toward the bottom of the case. It is apparent that vibrator 350 is cumbersome. In addition, no air pressure is used to blow the bag clean of dirt.
Other prior art cleaning devices generally related to the field are as follows: U.S. Pat. No. 2,333,713 issued to M. A. Eiken, Nov. 9, 1943; U.S. Pat. No. 2,260,449 issued to H. I. Goldwyn Oct. 28, 1941; U.S. Pat. No. 1,748,775 issued to J. W. Kittridge Feb. 25, 1930; U.S. Pat. No. 1,437,025 issued to A. E. Schulz Nov. 28, 1922; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,725 issued to J. R. Foster May 23, 1967.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum bag cleaning system that eliminates cleaning vacuum cleaner bags by hand and instead provides a vacuum exhausted compartment into which a cloth vacuum cleaner bag is placed and dirt encrusted on the bag is blown from the pores of the bag by a concentrated current of air. It is another object of this invention to provide a vacuum bag cleaning system that draws exhaust air through a toroidal ring formed around the circumferential portion of a vacuum cleaner bag at selected positions in a cleaning chamber so as to blow out dirt from the pores of the bag.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a system for blowing air through the pores of a vacuum cleaner bag that is invertedly mounted in a cleaning chamber that in turn extends into a vacuum compartment into which air is drawn by a suction fan and motor through the cleaning chamber and bag.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a vacuum bag cleaning system that allows an operator to selectively concentrate air flows into selected toroidal rings of the vacuum cleaner bag so that dirt and debris are blown from the bag and are collected at the bottom of the vacuum receptacle compartment in which the bag is inversely positioned.
In accordance with these and other objects, there is provided a vacuum bag cleaning system including a substantially rigid receptacle member having a continuously substantially vertical side wall and a substantially horizontal bottom wall sealably secured to the side wall, the side wall having a top rim. The receptacle member is preferably cylindrical with a circular top rim. A substantially horizontal top chassis wall opposing the bottom wall is removably and sealably secured to the top rim of the receptacle member. The top wall forms first and second apertures. The side wall, bottom wall, and the top wall define a preferably cylindrical receptacle compartment. An elongated cylindrical member forming a cylindrical cleaning chamber extends vertically into the compartment. The cylindrical member has upper and lower portions that respectively extend above and below the top wall. The cleaning chamber has opposed top and bottom openings at the upper and lower portions respectively, with the bottom opening spaced from the bottom wall of the receptacle member. The top opening is defined by a top opening rim. The cleaning chamber is sealably connected to the top wall at the juncture of the upper and lower portions. The cylindrical cleaning chamber has a substantially vertical axis. An exhaust fan operatively connected to an electric motor is sealably mounted with the top wall at the second aperture. The exhaust fan is adapted to draw air from the receptacle compartment through the top opening of the cleaning chamber and to exhaust the air through the second aperture into the atmosphere. A vacuum cleaner bag member with a flexible cloth wall permeable to the passage of air forms an elongated compartment having a length and having an open end and a closed end at opposed ends of the length, the open end being defined by a circular holding rim adapted to be removably and sealably placed around the top rim of the chamber in a mounted relationship. The cloth wall of the bag member has normal inner and outer surfaces. The bag member is movable in the mounted relationship to a plurality of selected positions in the cleaning chamber between a downward position and an upward position. In the downward position the bag member is fully extended to its length downward in the cleaning chamber with the inner surface inverted to assume an outward orientation and the closed end of the bag member and the bottom opening of the cleaning chamber are in proximate relationship. The bag member is substantially circular in cross-section with a center substantially aligned with the vertical axis of the cleaning chamber. The upward position is wherein the bag member is fully extended upward with the closed end of the bag member spaced to the length of the bag member above the top opening of the cleaning chamber. In each of the plurality of selected positions the flexible wall of the bag member forms a substantially horizontal toroidal ring around the circumferential portion of the bag member substantially centered on the vertical axis of the cleaning chamber. The toroidal ring has a toroidal wall portion disposed downwardly forming an upwardly disposed toroidal recess, so that air being drawn into the top opening of the chamber by the exhaust fan is concentractedly drawn through the toroidal wall portion at the plurality of selected positions. Filters are placed around the inlet side of the fan housing to protect the fan and motor from dirt. A safety aperture is formed in the top wall for passing air into the compartment and relieving excess pressure on the side wall of the receptacle member.
At this point I would like to mention that my invention does not necessarily solve all the problems of cleaning a vacuum cleaner bag. For example, hair-type wastes captured by the bag, particularly along seam areas, are particularly difficult to extract, and for this problem occasional cleaning with a hand-held tool may be necessary.
The present invention will be better understood and the main objects and important features will become apparent when consideration is given to the following details and description, which, when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, describes, discloses, illustrates, and shows the preferred embodiments or modifications of the present invention and what is presently considered and believed to be the best mode of practice in the principles thereof. Other embodiments or modifications may be suggested to those having the benefit of the teachings herein and such other embodiments or modifications are intended to be reserved especially as they fall within the scope and spirit of the subjoined claims.